Roger unleashes tactical onslaught
London loved Roger Federer this week for his performance against Novak Djokovic in the ‘Stan Smith group’ to secure the semi-final slot at the ATP Masters’ final.
It left Djokovic to work more to get the other semi-final slot. It’s Thursday and London has featured its excitement in its seven million dollar prize money at ATP Masters.
In recent months Djokovic’s Tennis has been described in superlatives. It is certainly not without good reasons. Maestro Federer showed he has more up his sleeve and sent a message to those who consider him to be a ‘spent force’ to be number one again at 34 years of age. Federer beat Djokovic 7/5, 6/2.
Tennis is a game in which tactical strength is the core weapon to win. This is the weapon Federer turned loose against Djokovic in London.
Federer took it to such heights at times that it made Djokovic look like he was struggling. It seemed like Federer never played two rallies using the same tactic.
It is no easy task. While changing tactics would have a devastating effect on the opponent, it also forces the player to change their own game and rhythm all the time.
One has to be a very seasoned campaigner to succeed doing this. Federer showed that he has that kind of mental maturity and skill levels to handle the current world’s number one, using the ultimate chapter in the book of tactics.
No one disputed this ability of his ever but coming up with the right game at the right time has made him sensational again. In the second set Djokovic could not even sustain engaging Federer and subsequently lost his rhythm and the set at a mere 6/2. So severe was Federer’s onslaught.
In the ‘Ille Nastase group’ which is the second round robin group of the London Masters final, Rafael Nadal has proved to be the winner and made sure to get the semi final slot.
He beat Stanislas Wawrinka and Andy Murray convincingly. The court seems slow and that made rallies long and interesting to the spectators.
Best of Challenger’s-circuit – 2015
Not many know of the existence of the ATP Challenger’s circuit. It is meant for new comers and to players who find it hard to sustain the demands of the Masters series.
ATP, over the years has repeatedly shown their strength with epic and meaningful progression based tournament programmes right round the year.
It is also befitting the legacy of Tennis as a sport. While the top eight of the world have been pitched against each other in London, the rest of the field in the ATP rankings also has something to excite them and look forward to.
The second rung events of the ATP Challenger’s will have its final in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Here too, seven qualifiers get in on merit off the year round performances and one wild card entry will be permitted.
The event will be from November 25 to 29.
Leading the pack of players qualifying on merit to Sao Paulo is Italy’s Pablo Lorenzi aged 33 ranked 66. The others are: Argentina’s Guido Pella, Spain’s Daniel Munoz, Victor Esterella Burgos and Ingo Cervantes, Moldovan, Radu Albot ranked 150, Uzbek, Farrukh Dustov and wild card receiver Brazil’s Guilherme Clezar.
Some of these players have registered 300 wins in their career and over 40 wins this year. Sao-Paulo will not be a ‘cake walk’ for anyone.
World junior ranking
The design of the world junior ranking by ITF is to provide a platform to enter the ATP’s men’s Tennis circuit. If this is not achieved indulgence in junior rankings of any nature has no true meaning to any player.
In the past the event to win was the local national Championships of a nation. This has lost its significance and has been nearly reduced to be a teenage event.
This phenomenon is not only in Sri-Lanka but in most of the countries where the standard of Tennis is not very high. The reasons for this situation are many and a remedy is where we should direct our energies to.
The current top five players of the world Junior ranking are using the ranking platform well and have already earned world men’s ranking.
The world junior number one is USA’s Fritz Taylor and he is men’s ATP 205, Korean Hong Seong is junior two and ATP 924. Another from USA is Michael Moth who is junior 3 and ATP 455, Sweden’s Mikael Ymer is junior 4 and ATP 592 and yet another from USA Tommy Paul is junior 5 and ATP 264.
In fact many juniors start to play ATP events by the permitted minimum age of 15. For Sri-Lanka this combination is the ideal platform to achieve, if we are to progress with our Tennis.
This week-end we will have good Tennis in London. Nadal’s resurfacing act, Djokovic’s survival instincts, return of the Federer’s ‘fire power’, test of Andy Murray’s reputation for the Davis Cup finals next week-end and Wawrinka’s skills are going to be put to the test, thrilling millions of Tennis enthusiasts round the globe and will be spoken about well into the new year.
* George
Paldano, Former int. player;
Accredited Coach of
Germany;
National, Davis-Cup, Federation Cup
coach–.
gptennis.ceylon@gmail.com